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First Day

Is it normal for the mom to lay awake the night before the first day of school while the children all slumber contently in their beds? Because that is exactly what I did. I’ve always been an up-all-night person on the night before school. When I went to school, when I taught school, and even teaching homeschool now…I still lie awake the night before, leaving me running on adrenaline the next day. I guess it’s just a character flaw…

Anyway, with the exception of one slight (ok, pretty big actually) problem…my kids had amazing first days. My girls both woke up ready to go. They got dressed and flew through their morning chores. When we dropped them off, they happily walked into their respective places, waved good-bye with hardly a second glance, and set to their learning day. I consider this such a blessing. I knew that Hannah would do that, but I was worried about Lydia. I shouldn’t have been! She did great marching right in to her preschool daycare. Here are a few pictures from the day:

Yesterday when they got home, they were all smiles. They excitedly told us about their days. Hannah was super excited that made new friends and that she didn’t get in trouble at all…ever…not even a little bit (she has perfectionist tendencies…I actually told her yesterday that it’s ok to get in trouble every once in a while, just as long as she doesn’t make it a regular thing!). And Lydia couldn’t stop talking about all the friends she had made.

Now, the day did not go off perfectly…as I’m learning to accept and roll with the punches. As we were taking Hannah to the drop off line, we suddenly got a flat tire, and had to park a little ways from school and walk. I decided not to be grumpy about it for a few reasons. First of all, it couldn’t be helped. Also, I didn’t want to set off Hannah’s day badly. We certainly could have been further from the school. And finally, I’ve always really wanted to walk to school. Even when I was a kid, I’ve wanted to walk to school. So it was kind of like a bucket list thing for me.

The one thing that I almost got cranky about was that the flat tire was surely going to set our first homeschool day back. But, Tim happily came to our rescue, despite his incredibly crazy schedule, so I decided to be happy too. Isaac struggled with seeing the positives of this setback:

But, eventually even he perked up. I told the boys that one of the great things about homeschool is learning that life happens. Because they are with me all the time, they get a front seat row to “life happening”. And it seems that life is pretty exciting in the Wood family. James has decided to call these moments, “Wood Family Adventures.” I like it.

My boys were awesome. One of the main reasons why we sent the girls to public school this year was to give the boys some concentrated one-on-one time to bond. That’s been difficult for them. Yesterday affirmed our decision. We began our day with a great bible study about siblings called My Brother’s Keeper. I highly recommend it. It has given us a lot of things to think about and consider, and I think the boys really enjoyed it too. Then, they spent the day learning together, and I even let them do something crazy…I let them walk down the road together and play out of my sight for about thirty minutes. This was tough for me…I’m a keep-an-eye-on-em mama. But, I know that my boys need time to be in the “wilderness” and play together. They came back all smiles, and spent the rest of the afternoon playing together. I loved seeing them bond yesterday, and I’m enjoying the same view even today. Thank you Father, for affirming our decision for the year!

I’m still getting used to the fact that I can post James’s picture anywhere I want. I find myself thinking, “Can he do this? Can I let him do that?” It’s quite the adjustment, but it’s one that I am thoroughly enjoying. I got his Adoption Decree in the mail this week, and I stood there and held it for a while and read every single word just to let it sink in really well. And then, to top off the day, James called her his “birth mom” for the first time ever. While that may not sound like a big deal to you, it is to me. We’ve never asked him to do that. He’s always called her his “mom” but yesterday he didn’t. While I am still sad for her, my heart is SO happy that he’s seeing us as his family more and more. These little things that seem so small are such a big deal in the steps to become his family and his people in his mind and heart.

I think the best part of the day was when we went to pick up the girls. They all acted like it had been ages since they had seen each other, and they spent the whole evening playing outside ALL together with almost NO fighting. That’s pretty big right now in our neck of the woods.

The Lord’s thoughts are so much higher than mine. I am continually in awe of His provision and plan for us…as small as we are…that He cares THAT much.